the Steam is a changing: Trading Cards!

[Blackjack]

Penny Arcade Report's Ben Kucera weighs in on the $100 submission fee (he does address that while the fee's been described as going to Child's Play, PA's Child Play did not seek it out/have involvement in it):

The $100 fee for Steam Greenlight submissions is exclusionary, and wrong
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/the-100-fee-for-steam-greenlight-submissions-is-exclusionary-and-wrong1

*I don't know if I have a problem with the fee, as much as with the blanket idea that adding that fee is somehow going to improve the quality of submissions. It seems like a bludgeoning way to try to weed out the gag-submissions and what not.

imho, anything that draws an endless, unfiltered amount of public submissions is subject to abuse. Yeah you can get us gamers to rate everything in sight but even that is subject to "voting abuse." It's maybe no different than the iOS and Android app stores, or to games where every Moe can submit something they claim to be a playable level, mission etc. In those situations I often give up after a while because you feel like you're panning for gold in a massive sewer of feces. Get a visual on THAT. 

[Lordnine]

I think anyone serious about putting their game on Steam can muster $100 to do so.  However, if their goal was to just weed out bad submissions a $10 fee would have done just as well.

They need to rethink the thumbs down button though.  If 10,000 people say they will buy a game on steam does it really matter if 5,000 say they won’t?  I will never buy a sports game but that doesn’t mean I think they shouldn’t be sold on Steam.  It’s just a way for people to show spite to a game they don’t like.

[EngineNo9]

It appears to me that with their most recent update the thumbs down thing may not be so much a negative down-vote as it is "I'm not interested in this, don't show it to me again".  Their clarification text changed how I viewed that considerably.  But that's just my impression.

[CeeKay]

the Big Picture public beta is supposed to start Monday. 

[shon]

I really like the big picture mode.  I have been using my Tv for PC games for many years as there is no way I'm going to sit in a computer chair looking at a monitor when I get home, feels too much like work.  I have xpadder that allows me to use it as a mouse, it works very well, but the big picture mode is pretty awesome.

The layout feels somewhat like xbox live, but without ads.  The game icons are huge and they look really cool.  The interface is fast and typing with a controller is probably the easiest I've used in any type of interface.  The browser is pretty good it's different of course than the layout I'm used to using xpadder but it works ok.  I've had some issues playing videos, they take quite a bit of time to load and if you are viewing your games and want more detail and then back out it takes you back to the start of your games list.  You can use the bumpers to cycle through the alphabet and get back quickly but that should be fixed soon.

You can take screenshots by using the guide and another button which is a cool feature.  There are some problems with this on games that use GFWL so it's best not to turn on the interface while playing those games.
 

[Laner]

Big Picture mode is very crashy for me.  Doing just about anything locks it up, resulting into a CTD a few seconds later.

[Blackjack]

The first 10 Greenlights to ... get green lit...

    Black Mesa
    Cry of Fear
    Dream
    Heroes & Generals
    Kenshi
    McPixel
    No More Room in Hell
    Project Zomboid
    Routine
    Towns

Bleah. I don't think I even looked at more than a couple of these.

[TiLT]

Aw, no Project Giana? I guess it'll get in with the next batch. I think Project Zomboid got accepted with only about 30-40% of the necessary positive ratings, so it's clear the system is a bit rough around the edges.

[CeeKay]

another thing found in the most recent beta: it looks like Steam is finally going to let you choose where you want to install a game.

[Blackjack]

Couple buds at another forum had voted for Towns. I don't even know what it is.

So, Greenlight Games are held in "stasis" in this section as pending titles:

Greenlit Games
http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight?controller=sharedfiles&appid=765&method=browse&browsesort=pending&browsefilter=pending&p=1

Games in this section have received a lot of community support. The next step for these games is for the developer to send Valve a build of the game and start working with us. A game might exist in this state for some time while the developer continues working, polishes the game, and/or works on marketing and plans for the launch.

[Caine]

another thing found in the most recent beta: it looks like Steam is finally going to let you choose where you want to install a game.

I've been doing this with the steam mover application as an easy way to sym link folders, but it's nice that steam finally acknowledges that people's library might very well eclipse the largest hard drives   

[Blackjack]

So, RPS covered a Valve panel that seems to admit, well, Valve has no idea what they're doing with Greenlight

Valve On Steam Greenlight’s Failings, Fixing Them

As is, then, Greenlight’s less of a magical, crowd-powered game factory and more of an anything-goes gladiatorial arena. Unfortunately, that leaves non-developers like me and probably you in a bit of a tight spot. For normal folks, digging through more than a thousand candidates (and counting) without any rhyme or reason simply isn’t, well, reasonable. As a result, promising games are still bound to slip through the cracks – which is what Valve designed Greenlight to avoid in the first place.
...
Right now, Valve fully admits that it doesn’t have an answer.

And I agree with this nattering nabob of negativity comment in the thread there:

The whole Community Update has been a complete mess. The lack of proper moderating tools (and mods for that matter) in the Discussions pages, the insane amount of notification spam, the shitty social network-wannabe page layouts, and the fact that the update seems to have attracted a whole new level of Facebook-like stupidity were all the final nail in the coffin for me.

I no longer participate in the Steam community because taking part feels like nothing more than an unnecessary headache now.

I used to actively post in the Steam forums on many games but basically there are too many forums, mostly completely unmoderated at all (you might as well be on unmoderated USENET newsgroups). It's ugly and I don't want to hang out there anymore, not even just to check feedback on new games.

imho, Steam is wasting waaaaay too much time/resources emulating social media and crowd-funding and whatever's Trendy This Week. I'm sure we'll have "MySteam" pages and "SteamBook" gathering sites to go with "SteamStarter" funding donation pages. Perhaps to go with the "Steamify" streaming randomized game service, and so on....

Not to mention pelting us all with tab after tab after tab of Click Here and Click This and Join This and Tell Your Friends' Friends' Friends' Enemies what you thought of this game stuff.

None of this is preventing me from buying games on Steam (bought Borderlands 2 and Torchlight 2 on it, and pre-ordered XCOM), but more and more I just want to play my games and chat a bit with Steam friends and ignore all the bloat that Steam is determined to cram in, much of what are lost on me (and apparently others).

[CeeKay]

they are now officially selling non-gaming software.

[CeeKay]

they have a new deal called Early Access:

What is Early Access?

Get immediate access to games that are being developed with the community's involvement. These are games that evolve as you play them, as you give feedback, and as the developers update and add content.

We like to think of games and game development as services that grow and evolve with the involvement of customers and the community. There have been a number of prominent titles that have embraced this model of development recently and found a lot of value in the process. We like to support and encourage developers who want to ship early, involve customers, and build lasting relationships that help everyone make better games.

essentially what a bunch of indie devs have been doing already, just with Steam in the mix.

[CeeKay]

virtual trading cards are the next big thing.

What are Steam Trading Cards?
Steam Trading Cards are collectible cards you get by playing games on Steam. Collect a set of cards to earn items that help you customize your profile and show off your gameplay.